Switzerland helps EU with venture capital funds

04/12/2018
public

Zurich/Brussels – To double the amount of venture capital available to innovative startups in Europe, the EU is supporting six funds across the continent. Among the three selected in Switzerland and Liechtenstein is Schroder Adveq of Zurich.

The support will be provided by the VentureEU programme, which was created by the EU Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF). The latter organization will finalize contracts with the funds this year, explained the EU Commission in a statement.

A funds-of-funds programme, VentureEU will support six private funds with 410 million euros, with the expectation of them raising up to 2.1 billion euros of public and private investment.

The EU anticipates the programme to trigger an estimated 6.5 billion euros of new investment in innovative startups and scale-up companies across Europe, thus doubling the amount of venture capital available compared to 2016.

“With VentureEU, Europe's many innovative entrepreneurs will soon get the investment they need to innovate and grow into global success stories,” commented Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, in the statement.

The investment company Adveq was founded in Zurich in 1997 and acquired by the British company Schroders in 2017. Schroder Adveq now has around 100 employees. Alongside its presence in Zurich, it has offices in Frankfurt, London, Jersey, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong. At the end of 2017, Schroder Adveq reported it was managing 8.6 billion dollars.